Mornings and a mourning
by zhandi211
Summary: It's vulnerable.


**_I had this silly idea that I really wanted to put on to paper. Let me know what you think._** ** _Ch_** ** _apter 1._**

Harvey is flipping through some files , checking if everything was in place for the next meeting , before the case went to trial. A flash of white catches his eye.

" Donna ?" he looks up , then he sees that she'd been crying.

"Harvey , I just got a call..my..my dad...he had a heart attack and he...uhmm he didn't make it..." Donna's voice breaks , tears run down her cheecks.

And he does something he hasn't done ever before. He gets up from his chair and goes to Donna. He embraces her and presses her tight against his chest.

" Donna I am so sorry." He whispers as he runs his hand over her hair. She doesn't say a word she just stands there crying. After a moment she looks up at him.

" Harvey I have to fly out in the morning , I need to make funeral plans and..." she tries to sound strong but she can't be , not at this moment.

Harvey tilts her chin up , forcing her to look up at him. " Hey , Donna you don't have to do this alone...if you want I can help you arrange a few things or maybe I could even come with you , you were there for me and the least I can do is be there for you. " his brow creased.

" Thank you Harvey..." another tear rushes down her cheeck.

" Okay Donna , I'll call my driver to take you home and you can start packing. I will make the flight arrangements and look for a hotel and I'll see you tonight."

" Yeah okay..thank you..." She turns and wipes the tear away.

Harvey starts making calls to find out about flights and hotels.

Harvey walks into Louis's office.

"Louis I need to ask you a favour.."

" Of course Harvey anything..." Louis puts down his pen amd looks at Harvey as he unbuttons his jacket to sit down.

" Donna's father has passed away and she needs to go Georgia..and I'm going with her , so I need to ask you if your okay with handling business here for a couple of days , I'll be available to take calls." Harvey looks Louis straight in the eye.

" Ohhh my...is she okay...of course she's not okay. " He mutters to himself. " But yes Harvey I can hold things down...but why are you going with her ?" Louis frowns.

" Because Louis she doesn't have a mom anymore she died when she was young and now her father, she has no one and I'm not letting her go through this alone." Harvey clenches his jaw.

" That's...wow Harvey, she is really going to appreciate that. As I said I can hold things down , just tell her I'm sorry please and that I'm here for her. "

" I hope I can trust you Louis ,I don't want to come back to find the firm in flames. But if anything , anything happens you call me. And don't make decisions or take meetings or anything without my say so. This is important Louis."

" Of course Harvey. I promise that I'll...that the firm will be fine. Just go and be there for her. And at any sign of trouble I'll call you."

" Thanks Louis , don't make me regret this okay."

" Of course not Harvey."

Harvey stands up and buttons his jackets and just before he can leave Louis's office. " Ohhh Harvey.." Harvey turns back. " Thank you for trusting me with this." Harvey nodds.

Harvey knocks on the door. The door opens. Donna's eyes are puffy and red.

" Hey Donna." His voice soft.

" Hey Harvey.." she pulls her robe tighter around her.

" I brought some food , I wasn't sure if you had eaten yet.." he says holding up a bag of thai food.

" Thanks Harvey, I'm not hungry though." She looks down as she steps aside to let him in.

" Donna I know how you feel and what your going through , but you have to eat." He frowns. " Just please eat a little. " He puts the food on the table.

"Harvey I..."

" Donna." He looks at her.

He takes out the food and he hands her the little carton of food. He takes his and they go and sit on the couch.

Donna sits at the end and just pushes around the food while Harvey is making his way through the carton on account that he has eaten since Donna came into his office that morning.He looks at her.

He puts the food down.

" So I booked us a flight , it leaves at 9:40 it's a short flight , we'll be there around twelve. And then I booked us rooms in The Hampton Inn."

" Thank you , I appreciate what your doing Harvey I really do." She tries to smile at him.

" You were there for me when my dad passed away. "

" Yeah but I didn't do for you what your doing for me right now."

" No , you did so much more, if you hadn't told me to go I wouldn't have had the chance to say goodbye." His voice is soft and filled with sympathy knowing that she feels the way he did when he lost his father.

" Ummm I finished packing and called my aunt Jennifer my father's sister , she called me this morning and she has already made arrangements and let the family know. The funeral is on Sunday..and I have to write the eulogy." Her voice is a little shaky , but she's strong.

" I'm so sorry Donna." He looks at her. He reaches over and sqeeuzes her hand.

She turns her head and nods at him.

After clearing up all the cartons he heads to the door.

" Good night Donna , I'm going to pick you up at 7:30. Try to get some sleep alright."

" Thank you for dinner and everything else Harvey. See you tommorow.

After Donna closes the door she trudges to her bedroom and lays down on her bed. She can feel the tears stinging her cheecks as they rush down. All she wants to do is cry , she doesn't cry often. She's strong , but in this moment she just lets herself mourn.

Thursday 12:58 am.

After arriving in Georgia Donna and Harvey head to her aunt Jennifer.

" Halo darling ...I'm so sorry ..." A woman as tall as Donna and slender with brown gray-ish short hair ...in her 60's he assumes although she looks 50 opens the door of her two story house and embraces Donna.

" Thanks Aunt Jenn , and thank you for letting me know and making all the arrangements. " She hugs her aunt again both of them have puffy red eyes.

" And who is this handsome young man ?" She directs her attention to Harvey. He smiles at her as they enter the house.

" I'm Harvey ma'am." He puts out his hand.

" Nice to meet you Harvey , but please don't call me ma'am. Jennifer , Jenny or Jenn will do. How long a

have you two been together ? " She smiles at Donna and sits down on the couch.

" Ohhhh no aunt Jenn he's just a friend." Donna slightly blushes and Harvey smiles to himself. This was one case in the many where people assumed that they were a couple.

" Well he's a good friend if he came all this way for you." She says as she stands up.

" Yes , yes he is." She smiles at Harvey her eyes soft.

" So your staying here ?? " aunt Jenn asks as she makes her way into the kitchen. She dissapears and a few minutes later she comes out with a tray of coffee and biscuits. She hands them their coffee and sits back down.

" Harvey booked us in at the Hampton Inn." Donna takes a sip of the coffee , for a moment enjoying the warmth going through her body.

" What , why would he do that ? I have enough room here. "

" Sorry Jenn I didn't know and I don't want to impose." Harvey puts his mug down on the dark oak coffee table.

" Imposing ? Not at all , you can cancel that your staying here and no buts about it."

"Thanks aunt Jenn."

" Great let me show you to your rooms." As they go up the stairs Harvey notices the house , the dark oak is prominent in the design which gives the house that home like feeling.

" Alright so Donna you get the room next to mine , you have your own bathroom and everything." They walk into the room. Its a big room with a big double bed against the wall and a big oak cuboard. The windows were large and a lot of natural light cascaded through the room. The bathroom is equiped with everything and the rooms looked very much alike accept for the colour. The room Donna was going to occupy were shades of grey and beige where as his room was shades of brown and white.

After Harvey cancelled the Hampton Inn and all the luggage was brought in he called Louis. Louis told him that everything was still fine. After he called a few clients about meetings that needed to be set , giving Donna and her aunt time to discuss some things.

Donna and her aunt spent the afternoon making the last arrangements for the funeral.

After dinner and helping with the dishes Harvey's phone rang and he excused himself because of a client and also Louis who had called about a deal they had to set up.

" He's quite handsome.." Aunt Jenn said looking over at Donna. They both spent most of the afternoon calling family and crying and making plans for what would happen afterwards and they had to discuss what would happen to his condo and when they would have to clear it out. And then they cried a little again but by dinner time they were exhausted and didn't have anymore crying left in them. So Jenn looked for a distraction although she could admit that Harvey was indeed very attractive.

" I guess." Donna said but as she looked over at him walking up and down she knew what her aunt meant. He had on jeans and a white shirt with a dark blue sweater. He was handsome in his work suits but he could kill in casual.

" So what's the deal with you two ? " she raised an eyebrow at Donna.

" I told you we're just friends aunt Jenn , I was his secretary for twelve years and now I'm COO of the firm , so he's my boss , but he's just a really good friend. " Donna shyly smiled at her aunt.

" Ohh of course just friends." He aunt winks at her.

" Aunt Jenn ! " Donna can't help but laugh a little and at that moment Harvey walks back into the room.

" What did I miss ? " Harvey sits next to Donna in the couch.

" Nothing aunt Jenn just told me a funny story about her neighbours." She and her aunt share a look. Harvey just sits there lost...having no idea about what is going on.

After a long day they all go to bed pretty early.

Donna goes into her room and she just sits on the bed...tears start to roll down her face again and at that moment someone knocks on the door.

" Donna it's me " Harvey whispers.

" It's open."

Harvey enters the room and sees her crying.

" I wanted to see how you were doing." Harvey walks over and sits next to her.

" I'm just..." Her voice trails off.

" I know what you're going through Donna and I know it's hard but it's going to be okay I promise. He is so proud of you , your a strong , smart , caring and amazing woman. He knows that you loved him."

"There is so much more I needed to say to him." Her tears had stopped.

" I know."

The room is quiet.

" Harvey could you sit with me for a while ? I know it's..."

" Of course I would and it's not. " he interrupts her and gives her a reassuring smile.

Since there were no chairs in the room Harvey went to sit on the bed. Donna was ons the left side and he went to sit on the left. Donna had finally fallen asleep , she looked exhausted and it was good that she was finally resting. His own eyes started to get heavy and he closed them just for a minute.

Donna woke up warm and felt at ease for the first time in days. Only when she heard the faint beating of a heart did she realise why. Somehow Harvey had gotten to the middle of the bed and somehow she ended up with her head on his chest. His arms were wrapped around her and her own arm was wrapped around his waist. His breathing was calm and soothing and that had the same effect on her , but as soon as she thought that , she felt almost shocked and kind of embarassed. What was only a question for a little comfort and break from the loneliness she felt had turned into this moment. She wanted to stay...he smelt good , his arms were strong and the steady beat of his heart made her never want to leave. At the same time she wanted to run , because not only were they friends but they worked together.

Just as Donna was about to move she heard Harvey.

"Good morning Donna." he said as casual as he could.

He had been awake a for a few minutes before Donna had woken up. He very quickly realised that he was no longer on the right side of the bed but in the middle with Donna's head in his chest and his arms around her. He was unsure of the situation.He didn't want to wake her because he was fairly certain that she hadn't slept for a couple of days. Then he started to enjoy it. Her skin soft..her hair smelled like vanilla and strawberries and he liked the way she felt in his arms.

" Hi Harvey." Donna says immediatly shooting up from the bed.

" I'm so sorry I didn't mean to , I wasn't trying anything or..."

" Donna it's fine. I know , you don't have to apologize. And I know you weren't trying anything." Harvey says walking to the door. " I'll see down stairs then..." The door clicks shut.

At breakfast. things were a little awkward and Jenn realised this , but didn't want to ask. " Okay so I have to go out and run a few errands , your more than welcome to come with me. " Jenn said as they cleared the table.

"No thanks aunt Jenn , I just want to take a little time and.." She looked at her aunt.

" Of course sweetie. " She said knowing that Donna needed time to herself.

" And what about you ?" she asked Harvey.

" No thank you. Sorry I have a little work to do."

" It's fine. I'll see you later and if I'm not back before 4 then just start dinner without me. There's a friend who needs help packing so I might be there a while."

" See you later aunt Jenn." Donna smiles at her.

With a kiss blown into the direction of Donna aunt Jenn was out the door.

Donna knew that her aunt usually threw herself into projects whenever she was overwhelmed with emotions. Everybody dealt with pain differently and this was her aunt's way.


End file.
